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With Thanksgiving behind us, but more holidays to come, it’s clear that dinner rolls will play a role at least once this winter. We made herbed sourdough dinner rolls for Thanksgiving based on the recipe below.

The recipe is appealing because it offers the option to use either yeast or sourdough. We took the sourdough route, and while the results were not as lofty as yeast might have been, they were a hit at our family Thanksgiving dinner.

Ingredients

by SMARGOT at Food 52

Using Sourdough Starter (100% hydration, or 1:1 flour:water)

• 1 cup refreshed sourdough starter – start the night before
• 1 cup milk
• 3 cups all purpose or bread flour
• 2 ¹/₃ cups whole wheat flour (we used half hard red, half hard white)
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 TBS chopped fresh rosemary – (our tweak to the recipe)
• ¹/₃ cup honey
• ¹/₄ cup melted butter, plus a little more for greasing the pan
• ¹/₄ cup canola oil or other neutral cooking oil, plus a little more for coating the bowl
• 3 eggs (2 in dough, 1 for brushing)

Using Active Dry yeast

• 2 packets active dry yeast (4 1/2 t.)
• 1 ²/₃ cups warm milk (100-110F)
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 3 ²/₃ cups all-purpose or bread flour
• 2 ¹/₃ cups whole wheat flour
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
• ¹/₃ cup honey
• ¹/₄ cup melted butter, plus a little more for greasing the pan
• ¹/₄ cup canola oil or other neutral cooking oil, plus a little more for coating the bowl
• 3 eggs (2 in dough, 1 for brushing)

Method

With sourdough, the timing for this recipe fluctuates depending upon temperature. We covered the dough with a towel during rising, resulting in a dryer dough, which might have contributed to the lack of rise and oven spring.

Prep your starter 8-12 hours prior to using. We used cold water the night before for ready starter in the morning. If using yeast, prep yeast in warm milk, leaving 5-10 minutes “or until frothy”.

Mix all ingredients except 1 egg together to form a dough ball, kneed for about 10-15 minutes. Coat a bowl with oil and place the dough in the bowl, flipping to coat the dough on both sides.

Cover the dough with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise about 4-12 hours for sourdough (1 1/2 hours for yeast). Dough should be doubled in size, and it should hold a depression without healing if you poke your finger in it.

Butter 2 9×13″ baking pans and divide rolls into 30 pieces. Each piece should weigh about 50 grams. Each pan holds 15 rolls.

Rise Again

Cover the pans and let rise another 2-9 hours for sourdough (we did 4), 1 1/4 hrs for yeast. The rolls should again double as before.

Now it’s time to bake! Pre-heat the oven to 375° F for at least 20 minutes prior to baking. Beat the last egg and brush the tops of each roll with it.

Bake the herbed sourdough rolls for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Then remove the rolls and let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then plop out the rolls as a solid piece (if they rose enough to attach to each other).

Serve warm or let cool completely for storage on wire racks.

The result is a soft, slightly sweet rosemary whole wheat roll that your guests will scarf down. As proof, we caught one relative stealing the basket for leftovers.